You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘swap’ tag.
Sooo I’m doing another set of WWFY trades. Which works out to be awesome for me since I’m getting awesome stuff in return and getting to work with really nice yarns that I could not afford on my life. The first round (of at least three) was a couple of pairs of fingerless mitts. Here’s the first pair:
Pattern: Framed Cable Mitts
Yarn: Sundara Yarn DK Silky Cashmere in the colorway “Where the Tame Things Are”
Needles: US 4/3.5 mm
Mods: I only cast on 40 to better fit a smaller hand. I probably mucked up the thumb too, but it came out all right.
These mitts were super lovely to knit, y’all. They only take about 30g of yarn, which is just a couple hours of knitting time. The cable pattern is kind of hard to see in the variegation of the yarn, but it was fun to knit. A great, fast knit to cleanse the palate.
Plus also: THE YARN. Dear Jesus, what a soft yarn. I kept stopping the knitting in order to pet them (and they still only took a couple hours). The colors are really pretty too and in a simple stockinette or ribbing would really shine.
I love these things. I would have loved to keep them. I can’t. BUT. For the next round of knitting, I get my very own skein of Sundara DK Silky Cashmere. *excited squeak* I’m gonna make my very own ribbed mitts and wear them all the time.
Soo I made some socks for a swap. I mentioned them in my recent WIP Party post, so you may have seen one in progress. They’re basic acrylic house socks, but I did get some (always desperately needed) grey wool in return (and also a pattern I’ve had my eye on). I made three pairs, all fairly quickly.
Pair one!
Pattern: It’s a top-down sock. Wedge toe, flap and gusset heel.
Yarn: Deborah Norville Everyday Soft Worsted in Parfait
Needles: US 4/3.5 mm
Socks! They worked up pretty quickly. They are sized for a six-year-old foot with a cuff that can be folded over. Sorry they’re not modeled; I don’t know any six-year-olds whose feet I can borrow. I mostly knit on these at work, where I’m lucky enough to have a wee bit of knitting time.
Pair two!
Pattern: Top-down sock. Wedge toe. Afterthought heel.
Yarn: Deborah Norville Everyday Soft Worsted in and some recycled cotton/acrylic from my stash for the heel and toe.
Needles: US 4/3.5 mm
More socks! Same as the first pair, but with a different heel. Also, these are a little bigger. Plus I knit the feet too long the first time and had to snip it out and reattach the toe. It was an excellent way to practice kitchener in the round. And by perfect, I mean soul-sucking.
Pair three!
Pattern: Say it with me now: Top-down sock. Wedge Toe. Flap and Gusset heel. Whoo!
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Blue Mint and Passion
Needles: Yep, US 4/3.5 mm
Even more socks! These ones have non-yarn-patterned stripes and contrast heels and toes. They are bigger still, about a women’s size 7. They took a bit longer to make, but were pretty quick nonetheless. I made the toe of the first one too long, but I just reknit the toe onto the partially frogged foot. That actually ended up being faster.
We interrupt this steam of FOs to bring you some WIPs! I’ve been working on a bunch of things, but I’m a little bit away from having something finished to show off. There’s a little bit of everything in here.
These are the Heart to Heart socks by Wendy Johnson from Toe Up Socks for Every Body in Cascade Heritage. They’re a bit further along than this, but they’re good knitting for when I want to pay a little attention, like when I’m watching stuff on Netflix.
Socks with long ribbed cuffs in Deborah Norville Everyday Soft Worsted acrylic. They’re for a swap, along with a couple other pairs of acrylic socks. Simple, easy knitting, and the Deborah Norville isn’t too bad to knit with. I knit on them at work, actually, as I’m fortunate enough to get some knitting time on the job.
This is the fingering weight sweater I keep referring to. There’s a whole saga with it, but I’ll talk about that when it’s done. I’m working on the sleeves now, which is the last part as I’ve already done the edging. It’s a recycled merino and Red Heart Sashay. FUN. It will make my hips look enormous and I don’t care.
Aaand some weaving. My first foray into clasped weft. The warp is some recycled wool/rayon/cashmere/nylon, and the weft is Knit Picks Palette. I adore it. It’s a lot slower than my usual tabby, but I like it. It’s a trial run for some clasped weft that I really want to do–blue rain drips on a black background.
In fandom news, Joe and I finished Choices of One and started I Jedi. Excite. I’m kind of reading Black Fleet Crisis, but I don’t know how much I like it. I started watching House of Cards, which I’m sure I’ll have finished by my next post. It’s really interesting and Kevin Spacey is great. I kind of gave up on Voyager, but I might go back at some point and just skip to season four or so. I dunno, things are okay. I’m making lots of stuff. Til next time.
I did a swap! I don’t do a whole lot of them these days, but I did do an Alice in Wonderland themed swap. It was pretty fun. Here’s what I received from my partner:
Fabulous wall art based on the suits from SyFy’s Alice (which is fabulous by the way).
Minitote! Inside the minitote was Disney’s Alice tea. I don’t drink tea, but Joe likes it. So yay.
Here’s what I made for my partner:
I cross stitched the first stanza from the Jabberwocky. It came out super awesome, but let me tell you, I probably unstitched this sucker as much or more than I stitched it. I made a lot of mistakes. It did come out super great though. Even the back looks good:
I glued some felt to the back to make it all neat.
I also made a card:
I drew it by hand. Outline is sharpie pen and the colors are Crayola colored pencils. It came out SO WELL. I don’t draw really, but I can look at a picture and copy it pretty well, which is what I did here.
I hope my partner likes the things I made. This swap was pretty fun to craft for. And now, back to my knitting.
Sorry for the unintended gap in posts. I was out of town for a week. And I have no excuse for the second week. Anyway, I made a thing.
Pattern: Evenstar
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK
Needles: US 4/3.5 mm
Mods: All I used from the pattern is the cable chart. I pretty much just made everything else up as I went. Plus I added fingers.
I made these for a WWFY swap because Lord knows I need more yarn. (Actual fact: I do not need any more yarn). But they were quick and the yarn was pretty and I liked making them. Maybe I’ll make some for me. (I will probably not make any for me).
I am pretty keen on the cable though. Pretty. I don’t have a tremendous amount to say about them.
On to other news! I recently read Isard’s Revenge and Starfighters of Adumar because I am completely obsessed with the Star Wars Rogue Squadron books. Especially Wedge, Tycho, Wes, and Hobbie. LOVE THOSE BOYS. Anyway. Joe and I are currently reading Allegience and Choices of One (we’re about halfway through the first one). I started watching True Blood and am all caught up and ready for season six. I have not seen the new Star Trek but I really really want to. Movies are too damn expensive. But I might have a job soon! A real proper nine to five (well, eight-thirty to five-thirty) office job as a Receptionist. Temporarily anyway. Fingers crossed, folks.
Sooo I’ve started swapping again. I signed up for an Alice in Wonderland swap and I’m doing ows again. I claimed A2K for some plarn and an ewok pin cushion.
Plarn is a portmanteau of plastic bag yarn. I used this tutorial to make yarn from the collection of plastic bags I’ve got kicking around.
I got a total of 202 yards in two skeins. I used my rotary cutter to slice the strips and it actually went pretty quickly. I keep forgetting to bring my reusable bags when I go grocery shopping, so I’ve got quite the collection of plastic bags. I might make some of this yarn myself and use it in weaving.
The other thing I made for the swap is an Ewok.
Pattern: Wicket the Ewok but I mostly just winged it
Yarn: Scraps. Cascade Eco and wool recycled from a sweater with a bit of colorwork.
Hook: 3.75 mm
Mods: I mostly made things up as I went, so there are a lot. Plus I used fabric for the hood and stitched it in place.
Once I finished all the pieces and stitched him together (mostly just the arms since I made the legs, body, and head all in one piece), I used a hand carder to brush out the yarn and make him fuzzy. He’s stuffed with yarn scraps from weaving, so he’s wool all the way through.
I’m particularly pleased with the hood. I played with the fabric and draping for a while before I stitched it down. I tried to crochet the hood, but I kept running out of whatever color I started it in. I guess it takes way more than I was allocating. Oh well. The fabric hood came out really nicely.
There’s a good chance that by the time this posts, the little ewok and the plarn will have made it to their destination. I hope A2K likes them!
Sooo it ended up being a little while since my last post. In my defense, I didn’t have a good way of taking pictures. My phone was out of commission and I lost my camera charger. All has been remedied, at least partially.
Anyway, I have a finished object to share. I made a pair of fingerless gloves for a WWFY swap.
Pattern: None, but I’m pretty chuffed with it so I might write it up. It’s been ages since I’ve written or released a pattern. It’ll probably be free.
Yarn: recycled wool/angora/nylon, overdyed not by me.
Needles: US 6/4 mm and US 1/1.25 mm
The yarn I used for these was a heavy lace weight/light fingering. I wanted to make these as quickly as possible, so I tripled the yarn to get a worsted weight, with which I made the body of the glove. I knew worsted weight would be too thick for the fingers. The recipient wanted half fingers, otherwise I would have left them off.
What I ended up doing was just using the yarn untripled (as the weight it actually is) and knitting the fingers out of that.
The result is pretty nice. The body of the mitts worked up super fast because it’s in worsted weight and the fingers took practically no time at all. Maybe an hour per glove including weaving in ends?
I’m definitely going to make a pair like this for me and take notes this time. The pattern will probably be in one size and you can change needles to change sizes. Maybe I’ll write more than one size.
I’m doing lots of other knitting and weaving too. I have some really cool inkle bands to show off but I need to get pictures. In fannish news, I finished watching Star Trek Next Generation and started on Deep Space Nine, which I like. I took a break to rewatch some Stargate Atlantis and have feeli.vs because I adore that show. And Joe and I are still working through the Star Wars EU. I like science fiction. In other.breaking news, water is wet.
So I recently participated in a Sherlock swap on Craftster. The swap was for one large item and partners were secret, so no one had any idea who they were receiving from and we couldn’t ask questions except through the organizer. I finished the thing I made at the last minute due to a billion shark mittens, but I’m going to wait until its been received before I show it here. (Partially because I finished it when it was dark outside and couldn’t find my camera so my only pics are crappy cell pics and I’m hoping the recipient will take some better ones).
Anyway, I ended up receiving from CDEeeek, who is amazing. This is what she sent me:
Isn’t it just the cutest little Baker Street door?! The poster and wreath are removeable. The bricks look so realistic. Just OMG. Love it. I need to hang it up (I haven’t yet cause mostly Joe does the nailing and he’s out of town).
BUT ALSO I received this TOTALLY SWEET card:
The wallpaper! And the smiley face! And presents on the couch! And sparkly tinsel! AHH I LOVE IT. It’s going up on the wall too.
In knitting news, I’m still knitting sharks nonstop, but I have like four more to go so I think the end is in sight. In book news, I recently finished Spinneret by Timothy Zahn and OH it is good. Perfect mix of science and fiction, interesting aliens and fascinating plot. LOVE IT. I’m currently reading The Lost, the second book in the Stargate Atlantis Legacy series, wherein McKay thinks he’s a wraith and I can’t even. So yeah.
Hopefully more different crafts soon. I’m rapidly getting sick of shark mittens. At least they’re fast.
Okay, first off: I’m fine, my folks are fine. We’re in DC and just got some rain. Never even lost power. My heart goes out to those in NY and Delaware (including the boy’s folks and my aunt) and everywhere else and I hope everyone’s okay or at least doing the best they can.
In lighter knittier news, I knit a scarf. It’s for Ongoing Wish Swap, which I got around to rejoining. It’s a super simple scarf–just knit length-wise in garter.
Pattern: I CO like 175 and worked garter stitch
Needles: US 8/5 mm
Yarn: All the leftover bits from shark mittens. As you can see, shark mittens have been many shades over the years.
It has fringe. I’m pretty chuffed with it. Sort of displeased I have to send it away, but I think I’m going to make a similar one for myself with the various other wool scraps I have kicking around. I’m thinking rainbow colors. Fun.
I took a picture of this the other day intending to do a WIP post of everything I’m working on, but I realized I was only a couple of rows from the end, so I just finished it and photographed the finished scarf. I will have a WIP post up soon as even though I’ve been remiss about posting, I have certainly been knitting and working on lots of things.
If you’re on the East coast, stay safe and dry. I know I got super lucky but a lot of people didn’t.
OMG. YOU GUYS. My Doctor Who swap package. PREPARE TO BE AMAZED AND JEALOUS. Behold, my awesome haul from stafaniegk:
AHH WALL HANGING I LOVE IT. Check out this GQMF, Donna:
AHH A CLOCK. We so needed a clock. And of course I will tell people it’s half past David Tennent. BECAUSE YES.
CHECK OUT THESE BOXES. I love boxes. This are covered with Doctor Who goodness. The one on the right is entirely pictures from The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. YAY. The boxes are from IKEA and I had to assemble them (which was… interesting). I’m highly amused that there’s a rivet that had to go through Rose’s temple:
All the doctors! I am going to store all the things. Inside this fab box was this:
Basically a billion cards (with envelopes!) all with Who quotes. SO MANY QUOTES. Inspiration for my next embroidery project. Will be sending cards to everyone I know. : )
Laminated copies of this pic. ADORABLE. Hello, new bookmarks.
And the best thing of all:
YOU GUYS, STEFANIE MADE ME GUESS WHO. IT’S GUESS DOCTOR WHO. AHH. I love it. Look at the little character cards:
And as if that wasn’t enough (which, Christ), she sent everything in this totally awesome box covered with Who pictures:
EVEN THE BOTTOM HAS PICTURES:
So yeah. All the things. I can’t even word you guys. I’m just stunned and so very grateful for the awesome people I get to swap with. Just… OMG.
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 